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With crimes by migrant labourers increasing alarmingly, police in Ernakulam district, home to almost 80% of the migrant population in the state, are collecting thumb impressions as a security measure, a move that is, expert says, fraught with serious human rights implications. All police stations in the district have been directed to maintain a registry to record profiles of migrant labourers coming here for employment. Apart from thumb impressions, the migrants' labour profile will also include name and address of the labourer, a copy of identification documents like voters ID or Aadhar, details of employer, contact number and photo. The police justified their action saying they find it difficult to trace those involved in crimes back to their home town addresses. Moreover most of the migrants do not provide copies of Aadhar card or voter IDs. They submit a certificate either issued by an employer or from the panchayat in their home towns,' a police officer said. State police chief T P Senkumar said that the procedure is followed in some districts where the number of migrant labourers are high. "The police are collecting thumb impressions of migrant labourers since they are strangers. But if we think in larger terms, the same issue could be faced by Keralites who work in other states too", he said. Senior public prosecutor Rasheed C Nooranad said such a move is not backed by law. "Recruitment of migrant labourers should be actually done after getting consent from the labour department and the local body. The process is similar to recruitment to the Gulf region from Kerala. But such a practice is not followed in Kerala now and it has become difficult to distinguish between criminals and genuine workers. If they commit a crime and go back, it is impossible to track them down as they are producing fake voter IDs here. When police conducts enquiry as per the details provided in the ID cards supplied, they realize that there is no such person there. In at least half of the cases in which our police went to these places and enquired at the concerned police station or panchayat, there won't be such a person as identified by the cards. So police might be collecting thumb impression as part of the data collection to know whether the migrant worker has any criminal antecedents," he said. It is estimated that around two lakh migrants mostly from West Bengal Bihar and Odisha are employed in various sectors including construction, timber mills and hotels in the district. Special Branch ACP, Kochi city, Babu Kumar K G said that all stations have been asked to maintain the migrant labour profile registry which will be updated frequently. "Though the idea is not new, stations were not seriously doing this. With crime involving migrant population getting frequent, we have directed all police stations to compulsorily maintain a registry on migrant labourers. Though we don't expect the labourers to provide 100% genuine data, this will help police to track them in case of an emergency", Babu Kumar said. Babu Kumar said that the city police will soon start an audit to estimate the approximate number of labourers working in hotels, construction sector and in other industries in Kochi. In Ernakulam rural alone, about 1.5 lakh migrant labourers are estimated to be engaged in various jobs. Police say they have come across cases where migrants were found to be involved in cases of theft, drug peddling and murder. We do not have an exact figure of the cases registered against migrants,' an officer said.In Kochi, some police stations have already started collecting data of migrant labourers. "In the last two weeks, Maradu police station has collected details of more than 650 migrant labourers working in its jurisdiction. We are getting more entries of labourers from states like West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar. Though they have provided us copies of ID cards, we are unable to verify their authenticity. Majority of the ID cards provided by them are copies of driving licence and certificates issued by panchayats which are not fully dependable", said A B Vipin, sub-inspector with Maradu police station.A similar police action in Thiruvananthapuram a few years ago had to be dropped after issues of human rights violations cropped up. We toyed with the idea but dropped it. Moreover, it is not an easy task to do the profiling considering that the numbers are rising every day,' a senior police officer said.Advocate Kaleemswaram Raj however said the police are empowered to do it. "There's a central enactment of 1979 called Migrant Labourers Act and then there's a statute brought in by the UPA government regarding interstate migrants. Through these Acts, it is stipulated that welfare measures should be introduced for migrant labourers, such as providing night shelters, basic amenities, basic hygiene, medical care, fatal accident care, etc. For implementing these, they have to be provided identity cards. This also has the collateral purpose of preventing crimes. So, for implementing these, it is crucial to confirm their identities. So if the thumb impression is being collected for such a purpose, it cannot be said that it is illegal. Police is empowered to do that."
Keywords
migrant, India, Kerala, human rights, Kochi, Ernakulam, profiling, police, crime, data, Aadhar, security
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